Monday, November 13, 2006

Haul Out The Holly?

Forget about it!! WLIT in Chicago has gone to an all Christmas format. ALREADY!


November 3, 2006

Well, at least they waited until after Halloween. In the earliest jump on the holidays yet, WLIT-FM (93.9) put its adult contemporary format on hold and switched to all-Christmas music at noon Thursday. "The Holiday Lite" will continue airing around the clock through Christmas Day.Although the Clear Channel Radio station had been lining up advertisers and teasing the move in on-air promos for a while, Lite FM bosses kept the date a mystery right up to Thursday morning."When I saw a snowflake this morning, that's when I decided," said Darren Davis, vice president of programming and operations for Clear Channel Chicago. "I hadn't planned on it. It just felt right."Just two days earlier, Davis insisted he had no idea when he'd make the move, adding: "It's a gut call. If it's 80 degrees and sunny, I would be less likely to flip."

Thursday's low temperature was 24 degrees.

A recent dip in the ratings no doubt played as big a part as the weather in prompting the early start to the holiday cheer. (Last year's start date was Nov. 18.)

Lite FM traditionally scores its highest ratings of the year for the weeks of its nonstop Christmas music. The challenge has been to retain those audience levels after normal programming returns.



Well, that figures. It's all about the cash. I am not listening to it. I won't listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I like Thanksgiving. Why rush right past it??!!






3 comments:

  1. A station here started on Nov 1. Like you I'll wait until Thanksgiving is over. A month for Christmas is long enough for me!

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  2. I couldn't agree more. The FM station I listen to starts before Thanksgiving too. It drives me crazy because they usually play the annoying stuff rather than traditional Christmas carols (which I love). I switch to CD's and tapes then and hardly listen to the radio.

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  3. I usually start playing my Christmas cds when I start baking my cookies & squares and that's near the end of November. In the stores here, they start playing it the day after Rememberance Day!

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